Bras by Kristen

 I asked a LONG time ago for links to some folk's favorites and then I put them together on this page and promptly forgot about it for a year.  So here's some links gleaned out of one of the bramaking groups on facebook.  I haven't checked all these links, but here they are. 

Cloth Habits bra sew alongs. construction tutorials. https://clothhabit.com/tutorials-tips/

https://orange-lingerie.com/blogs/news/tagged/tutorials 

https://www.katmakes.com/blog/2017/8/1/changing-a-bra-pattern-from-full-to-partial-band-a-tutorial 

https://merckwaerdigh.wordpress.com/2016/07/14/how-to-add-elastic-in-a-bra-when-lycra-switches-to-scalloped-lace/ 

https://merckwaerdigh.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/creating-a-butterfly-back-in-your-bra/ 

http://alltheunderwear.sophiehines.com/sewing-lingerie-adding-accent-trim-into-seams/

A 5-part tutorial for Elan 645 bra pattern http://hooksandwires.blogspot.com/search/label/Elan%20645

And same for Elan 511 https://hooksandwires.blogspot.com/search/label/Elan%20511

And here's part 1 of her tutorial for Elan 530. (Links to next three parts are in the right margin.) These feel a bit dated (10 years old already!) but are well done. http://hooksandwires.blogspot.com/2010/03/elan-530-tutorial-part-one-trace-cut.html

Here is our course platform and the beginning sewing classes we are offering to teach people how to sew.  Like from the very beginning.  There's a workbook, lessons with videos, and a practice project at the end. Its available at an an early release discount while I'm still developing the course, but should be fully live by the end of February 2021!

 

 I've often thought about how nice it would be to hire employees in our Alterations shop, but it's just so hard to find people that know how to dissect what needs to be done on anything they approach and then alter it.  In Southeastern Minnesota, the older crowd of sewists that do alterations are retiring, which means an influx of phone calls for our business because of mom's 30 year reputation. 

So the wheels have been turning. If I were to take on an employee, what are the things I want them to know and how could I train them while still being able to sew on my own work.  When you're a small business as small as we are, stopping to train someone slows your productivity down so much that there's no profit to be made in the business. After many conversations with other business owners, over the summer it occurred to me that I could record the sewing I'm doing in the shop and turn it into courses, as if they were training videos for someone I'd hire. 

So I bought a camera and started recording. 

I've been recording since the middle of the summer. The thing about economy changes, when people are strapped for cash, they have us mend their clothes and people still get married (pandemic rules or not). So I might have a day where I patch stained pants for a local dairy farmer because he can't afford new and then turn around and hem a $3500 USD wedding gown. I might replace the zipper on a coat for the ambulance crew and then repair a horse blanket for one of the ranches. So I've been recording. Everything.

I found a course platform that I love and I am working behind the scenes on a very beginning class on the basics. I'm not quite finished with it, although I plan to open it soon for pre-order. For those who are interested in checking out my freebies, the website is 

https://sewingbycarolyn.vipmembervault.com/

So... what happened to this year?

Beginning of the year, I started this blog and put a ton of articles up after my highschooler switched from Online Public school to our local district in January. I have 3 kids and 2 of them are school age.

Then March happened. Can I just say it? This pandemic has had some soul sucking qualities. I feel gyped out of digital progress this year!! My 9th grader studying Algebra and my first grader (who read along with the first Harry potter book after kindergarten) both got sent home from school to do their studies at home. So here I am, full time sewing with mom in our alterations shop, juggling which kid gets the homework help between sewing, With an almost 4 year old running around begging for attention.

Then: "Don't make masks." "Everyone stay home." "Wait, some people are essential, so they should keep working." "Wait, make masks cuz we can't buy them." "Cancel all the events, stay home for 2 weeks to flatten the curve, but then life will resume." "Ha, that's a joke, this ain't going away." "Well, maybe we could lift the restrictions some..." "Ok, everyone be mindful and resume activities, but social distance and stay home as much as possible, but if you social distance, you should be fine to have weddings." 

Then, in Minnesota, they decided in JULY that we needed a mask mandate.

July.

Not March.

Not April.

Not May.

Not June.

July.

Come August, there was NO PLAN YET for the school. Our district held a town hall zoom meeting to try to reassure the parents. WHAT A JOKE! I have a kid with an Asthma action plan! She's an age that they wanted to send her to school and they expected the teachers to do an impossible job of implementing several separate plans at once. No thanks.

So we took a long look at our options. Mom and I had been operating at a level of overwhelm that can cause a psychotic break. The burnout was real, folks! We knew the option of an actual online school from having used it before the pandemic. But I can't sew full time (because people got married anyway - they just moved it out to farms), child care the 4 year old, assist the 2nd grader to suddenly do a bunch of computer work, and help the High Schooler move into geometry and 10th grade pursuits.

So I had to hire help. I have a friend that's a rockstar and acting as the second me so we can split the to do list in half. This was a temporary solution to pandemic stress. We're really hopeful for next school year and hoping that we can resume some sense of "Normal."

So, Here's to being hopeful for what the New Year will bring.

I have been staring longingly at a sphere shaped pressing ham for bra cups on various people's sites, and had made up my mind to make one when a fellow bra maker shared this tutorial by Kat makes (and that's her picture above). Head on over and make a boob ham... Good sewing practice and excellent tool for bra-making.


https://www.katmakes.com/blog/2019/6/12/tutorial-tailors-boob-ham

Bra maker Grace Horne made 2 versions to have two shapes for pressing. Here's the first one, with 6 panels for a more round shape than a 4 panel.